It's vile.
And in the case of JW's, dangerous.
Woudl you take your young child canvassing around households where you don't know who on earth is behind the door. Paedophile, rapist, mentally disturbed etc, etc?
Crazy.
jambon1
JoinedPosts by jambon1
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25
Child preachers - I find this very disturbing
by freetosee ini believe young children are often capable of much more then we imagine.
these preacher children are surly very talented.
as much as i find them ever so cute, i find it disturbing how their parents use them to further their own religious ambitions.. .
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49
Another day, another apostate. Here's my story.
by I Want to Believe inbeen lurking for a bit, and feel safe enough now to tell my story (condensed).. i'm a third-generation born-in, but my parents were inactive for most of my upbringing.
this means i got the worst of both worlds--no worldly friends (home schooled all but grades 2-3), no witness friends (since we never went to the hall except for memorial), and a generally isolated upbringing in a tiny, tiny town.
needless to say, my emotional, social, and personal growth were stunted.
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jambon1
I had more or less all of the same feelings as yourself.
I would say that I have always been careful not to 'go off the rails' which plays right into the hands of active JW's. It was hard. I battled with heavy drinking. The mental gymnastics that I had endured for around ten years had had it's effect on me and despite the feelings of freedom and relief, the manner in which you are treated by your family and JW friends takes it's toll. I'm positive that I went through a degree of post-traumatic stress disorder after I left the reigion. The mental scars from having their constant negativity drummed into my brain were signifiant. Being emotionally distant and socially detatched from those I cared for also had a very negative effect on me. However, like I say, I saw the benefit to being sensible and not indulging myself too much in bitterness and regret. Although, it was a battle which often I would lose, back in the beginning.
I really enjoyed making friends or reconnecting with friends in the world. It taught me that although there are arseholes everywhere (none moreso than within the JW religion), generally people are not evil, bad or wicked. I used discernment when making worldly friends and after six years of being out of the org, I have a lovely mixture of friends who I care for deeply.
I have enjoyed doing voluntary work for a charity in recent months, which is very rewarding and brings more to the table than my other work which is very mundane, although financially it is very rewarding. It has been nice to be back in the workplace among people and it's super to be involved with people who are genuinely caring individuals. I would never have entertained this as a vocation had I still been a JW. This work has offered a lot of opportunities to me in terms of future work and new friendships.
Occasionally, I am in the company of JW's. Despite relaxing my view on them as individuals, I do find that their manner and general conversation is odd, negative and generally just not my cup of tea. As much as they may be nice individual people, I struggle with the fact that these same people would shun their children or make life and death decisions for their kids (given the chance), based on a notion of faith. Also, the general 'one-upmanship' is a massive factor. It's horrible to be around people who make judgements on appearance.
All the best to you on your journey. Stick in.
J
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Suicide - How many do you know within the JWs
by Lady Lee inthw wts likes to play games with their statistics.
one interesting but truly tragic is the number of jwhovah's witnesses who commit suicie.. now i suspect that if a person commits suicide shortly before or after they are disfellowshipped then the elders would say that person wasn't a witness or that they had done something so terrible that they were too guilty to admit it and by their action of committing suicide they pretty much declared they were no longer a jw.. yup fancy talk to make sure any crap didn't fall on them.. so my question.. do you know of cases like this?
if so then can you answer a few more questions.. had this person been dfed or in real danger of being dfed or whatever the equivalent is if they were never baptized?.
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jambon1
2 because of sexuality/d/f issues.
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Grown adults believing that a man and his small family gathered up every single living creature into a big boat
by jambon1 in.
never ever sat right with me.. now, don't get me wrong, it's one hell of a tale to tell your kids as a night time story (minus the pictures of dying babies and animals).
but as for actually believing that it happened?.
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jambon1
Never ever sat right with me.
Now, don't get me wrong, it's one hell of a tale to tell your kids as a night time story (minus the pictures of dying babies and animals). But as for actually believing that it happened?
Think about it.
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2011 Watchtower publisher statistics with analysis
by jwfacts inthe 2012 yearbook has released the publisher statistics for the 2011 service year.
a scan of the report can be found at http://www.jwfacts.com/images/2011-publisher-report.pdf and i have started updating the graphs at http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/statistics.php.
as expected, it is following on from similar trends to the last 15 years.
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jambon1
Since I left in 2006, the annointed number has rocketed.
What is the explanation for this?
Soon it'll be up at, er, 144 000.
What is the official line on the increase?
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"Feeling sorry for yourself" about being hit by your husband is not Christian 2/15/12 WT Page 25 P 12
by yourmomma inhave anyone of you read, the absolutly jaw dropping paragraph in this article about a women who was hit by her husband?
its in page 25 of the 2/15/12 wt study edition (i read the dumbed down version).. .
if there was any question, that the watchtowers stance is for wives to simply take it when their husbands abuse them, this makes it crystal clear.. who the hell is scanning these things before they go to print?
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jambon1
Is this in the public or study WT btw?
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449
"Feeling sorry for yourself" about being hit by your husband is not Christian 2/15/12 WT Page 25 P 12
by yourmomma inhave anyone of you read, the absolutly jaw dropping paragraph in this article about a women who was hit by her husband?
its in page 25 of the 2/15/12 wt study edition (i read the dumbed down version).. .
if there was any question, that the watchtowers stance is for wives to simply take it when their husbands abuse them, this makes it crystal clear.. who the hell is scanning these things before they go to print?
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jambon1
Un****ingbelievable.
It's been some time since I was shocked by what is contained in the WT but this really takes the biscuit.
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Was The Internet The Clincher For You To Mentally Leave The Organization?
by minimus ini think it was for me.. i knew a lot of the history of the bible students, russell, rutherford and the "old light".
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once i could see all of the overwhelming evidence right in front of my eyes, there was no ignoring the reality..
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jambon1
Not the sum total of why I left but I remember feeling absolutely relieved that other people felt the same way that I did about various matters.
It was like a huge weight off my shoulders. All along I had blamed myself for me lack of faith. The fact that others had felt the same and had saw the same shit going on in KH's all over the world convinced me that it wasn't just a 'local' problem.
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I've lurked a long time: JW's produce some of the most paranoid humans
by Unlearn ini'll keep this brief for now.. long time lurker (4 years or so).. born-in, elder, used on district level (last talk i gave before i left was the baptisimal talk), and lots of hard time put in...before i finally made the move to split.
it's a long stoy, much like many of yours...but with it's own little interesting twists.
more details in the future, perhaps.. as i said, ive lurked here for a while.. its funny: for a long time i'd only come on late at night.
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jambon1
Paranoia took over my life nearly to the point of suicide as a JW.
I look back now (6 years) and wonder what all the fuss was about.
That really is indoctrination.